When you hear the term 'channels' in digital media, it is referring to the avenue in which your marketing message will be delivered. Channels and formats can be easily mistaken for one other. It is important to remember that the creative format is a subset of the channel. You could have multiple creative formats (e.g. video, image or stories) under a single channel (e.g. Social Media).
Having a good understanding of the various channels will allow you to leverage their unique characteristics to achieve your media and marketing objective(s).
These are the main channel groupings for digital media,
Display
Commonly featured on content publisher websites, display banners come in many shapes and sizes. The more common IAB standard display banner sizes are 300x250 (Medium Rectangle - MREC), 160x600 (Skyscraper), 728x90 (Leaderboard), 300x600 (Half Page Unit) and 970x250 (Billboard) for Desktop, and 320x50 for Mobile. 300x250 (MREC) ads can be used for both Desktop and Mobile web pages. The dimensions are based on pixels (horizontal length x vertical height). There are many other custom ad units that some publishers can offer to deliver greater impact. These are often larger sized ad units that have more interactive capabilities.
Native
Native ads are often grouped under 'display' as a channel as they are most commonly found on content publisher websites. That said, native ads are quite unique in that they don't appear as banners, and assimilate with the content on the website instead - thus termed 'native'. This gives the ads greater legitimacy as it appears as a content piece as opposed to an obvious ad.
Social Media
Ads featured on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram Twitter, Tik Tok, Snapchat, Pinterest and LinkedIn. These usually appear as 'sponsored' or 'promoted' posts on your feed.
Search Engines
Search results can be paid ads that feature as the top few search results through Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or organically optimised via Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Video
Consisting of various formats such as pre-roll, mid-roll, skippable and non-skippable, Video Ads are common on video networks such as Youtube, but can also be found on videos on publisher sites.
Audio
Digital audio is up and coming with Spotify leading the vertical. Audio ads are commonly found in the free version of Spotify and on digital radio stations. They are often played between songs and can even feature in podcasts.
Affiliates
Affiliate marketing can come in many forms, but essentially refers to an agreement of a “referral program” between the advertiser and publisher. This is a common feature on product comparison websites.
eDM (eMail Direct Marketing)
One of the oldest digital mediums is e-Mail Direct Marketing. This works by sending out marketing materials to a specific list of email addresses.
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